As I’m getting older, I’ve learned some principles that I now live by.
In anything that we do, we are responsible for the choices we make. We are responsible for the money we earn, the weight we live with, the health we have, and the shape we are in. Everything we are is the result of the choices we made or didn’t make.
In my financial life, I made all the bad decisions a person can make. I spent money I didn’t have, getting late on my mortgage payments thinking “they can’t kill me!” and borrowing more money to pay for the credit card debts I made when I spent money I didn’t have.
I almost had my house put to auction for a $300 debt to school taxes that I owed for a couple of years and that added up.
It’s not that I was a young and stupid kid… I was 50 years old! Do you know the feeling you get when you call your 75-year-old dad to lend you $300 to pay a tax debt? Awful feeling… absolutely awful. And I had to get it fast because it was the last day to pay it before my house goes to auction.
So I traveled an hour to get to my parent’s place to get the money, just showing up like a thief and barely saying hello and thanks because I knew I had to go back and drive another hour to make it to the office where I could pay the bill before it closes for the weekend…
I drove back with tears in my eyes saying “I don’t want to live like that anymore”. I was done. Something had to change… somebody had to change… ME!
The turning point
As I watched the tow truck going away with my repoed car (a 2012 Mazda 2) a couple of months later, It then hit me: I made the CHOICE to buy a new car on second chance credit (I’m telling you, DON’T ever do that!) I then bought a 1993 Toyota pickup truck that I paid $750 for with money from a non-profit organization that helps people get back on their feet financially, which had lent me at 0% interest payable over 1 year.
That really helped me get back on track. Without that $500 + monthly payment that I had on the car, I didn’t have to make any more, I could breathe more easily and sleep better at night.
The mentality shift
I read the book The Richest man in Babylon and listened to the audiobook maybe over a hundred times while driving to and from work. That book literally saved my life financially. Everything is in there to change your mentality about money and it changes the way you think about it.
I then began to review all my expenditures and started to cut where necessary. I quit smoking too. I followed the most important tip in the book: pay yourself first. And as you begin to do this, your all way of thinking changes. Not only about money, but about all aspects of life.
You think differently, you act differently, and you see things differently. It’s really a mentality shift. But it will shift if you WANT it to shift.
It’s like quitting smoking. If you want to quit because somebody else wants you to quit, you will NEVER quit. But if you do it for YOU, for whatever reason, should it be money, health, or you’re just tired of smoking, then and ONLY then, you will succeed.
Make better choices
Now, my financial life is right back on track, I quit smoking and I am renovating my house, with the money I learned how to budget, thanks to the money-thinking tips I’ve learned in The Richest Man In Babylon.
I now make way more valuable choices financially speaking. I don’t buy new cars anymore. I now drive a 2009 Chevy Aveo that I paid $1700 for. Before that, at the beginning of my “recovery”, I bought a 2004 Chevy Aveo that I paid $1075 for and drove for 4 years!
I take care of my hard-earned money and when you do that, opportunities appear before you. It is then YOUR CHOICE to go with it or let it pass. But after reading that book, The Richest Man in Babylon, you really see things differently. You are more aware of what’s going on, and therefore, you make better CHOICES.
That’s all there is to it.
Change your mentality and everything will change for you.
I hope this will help some of you out there. You know how hard it is to feel helpless about money situations.
Believe me, better days are yet to come. The CHOICE is in your hands. YOU and ONLY YOU. can change your future.
